EBR School Board forms School Safety Task Force

BATON ROUGE, LA (NBC33) —
The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board will create a school safety task force. The decision was made during the Wednesday, Feb. 29 meeting.

School Board Vice-President Tarvald Smith will serve as the chair of the newly created task force committee. The committee intends to include other School Board members, staff within the school system, and community members.

Currently all school related safety issues are handled through the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office and Baton Rouge Police Department through the School Drug Task Force. This agency responds to all schools in relation to any incident that involves drugs, violence, or weapons on school property.

In addition, deputies with the Sheriff’s Office work for the school board security as an extra-duty assignment.

“Obviously any efforts that will promote safety in the schools are good,” Casey Rayborn Hicks, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Department, said about the statement issued by the school board related to the new task force. “We will continue to work with the School Board in any way we can to keep schools safe.”

The School Board has not determined a date for the first meeting of the safety task force.